Read on to sort your Cowpers from your Mondrichs, your Phillipa from your Prudence…

(Spoilers ahead).

Daphne Bridgerton and Simon Basset

Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page

Daphne and Simon are absent from the narrative nowadays but were the focus for Bridgerton’s debut series. After Daphne was named the diamond of the social season by the Queen, she had quite the influx of suitors, causing the emotionally unavailable (and highly sought after) Duke of Hastings to suggest they pretend to court, to ward off the packs of desperate debutantes.

After a sneaky kiss in a rose garden, the two were forced into an early marriage to avoid societal scandal. Simon told Daphne he couldn’t have children, which she assumed to be due to impotency, opposed to the reality – childhood trauma. After much debacle, Simon found he could move on from it. The two live happily ever after off screen, as both Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page decided not to return for Bridgerton’s later series.

Anthony Bridgerton and Kate Sharma

Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley

Anthony had to step into the viscount Bridgerton shoes after watching his father die at 18, after he was stung by a bee. He clung to his bachelorhood for all of series one, with a mistress deemed much below his station, and a stand-off with Simon Basset during his tryst with his sister.

In series two, Anthony headed straight towards the diamond of the series, Edwina Sharma (Charithra Chandran), who had recently returned from India. Unfortunately for Anthony, he was overheard by Edwina’s older sister Kate saying he was only looking for a wife for her looks and connections. Anthony and Kate therefore embarked on a hate-fuelled relationship, until a bee stung Kate and the two shared a moment as she comforted him in his distress.

After much back and forth and an engagement to Edwina’s sister, the two ended up together, still ‘vexing’ each other on the daily.

Penelope Featherington

Nicola Coughlan

At the end of series one it was revealed that the elusive Lady Whistledown, a Gossip Girl style columnist who has the power to make or break the members of the ton, was none other than wallflower Penelope Featherington. The second series delved into her operations, seeing her enlist the help of dressmaker Genevieve Delacroix to help deliver her columns to the printers. It also saw her battling with her conscience – when the Queen suspects Pen’s best friend Eloise is Whistledown, she prints something Eloise would never write about herself, putting her into scandal to save her.

Colin Bridgerton

Luke Newton  

To understand why Bridgerton fans are so smitten with #Polin you’d have to go all the way back to series one, where Colin was engaged to her cousin Marina (Ruby Barker). Unfortunately for Colin, Marina was secretly pregnant by a soldier who had left for war. Knowing Marina’s secret, Penelope did everything in her power to stop the nuptials from going ahead, with it becoming unclear whether she was protecting Colin’s honour, or her own heart. When Colin discovered Marina’s pregnancy, he went travelling around the world in the ancient break-up trope of catching flights, not feelings (or in this case, going boating instead of doting).

Benedict Bridgerton

Luke Thompson

If Anthony is the head of the family and Colin is the traveller, then Benedict is the artist. In series one and two Benedict was pursuing his artistic talents, taking him far outside the world of the ton, and to some salacious escapades. This included his first brush with the LGBTQIA+ community, as he discovered his mentor was secretly in love with a man and using a marriage of convenience to cover it. 

Eloise Bridgerton

Claudia Jessie

Eloise began the first series as a secret smoker with little interest in joining society and much interest in her hero Lady Whistledown. Obviously, at this point she was unaware that her best friend Penelope Featherington was secretly operating as the gossip columnist. Forced to begin attending the social scene in series one at the same time as Daphne, Eloise has managed to stay on the sidelines by filling her dance card with fake names.

In series two, Eloise struck up a friendship with Theo (Calam Lynch), a printer with a strong interest in social reform. When Whistledown published this, Eloise was plunged into scandal. Eloise continued her longtime mission of discovering the identity of Whistledown, eventually discovering Pen’s money stashed in her room, and realising the truth.

Francesca Bridgerton

Ruby Stokes (series one and two), Hannah Dodd (series three)

Although Francesca Bridgerton has been present since the very beginning of Bridgerton, she has stayed in the background, sparking numerous articles and social posts regarding her whereabouts. In an interview with the RTS, showrunner Jess Brownell says that this isn’t too different from Francesca’s storyline in the books, as she spends a lot of her early years studying the piano forte in Bath.

Ruby Stokes played Francesca in the first two series, before departing to play the lead in Netflix’s Lockwood and co., being replaced by model and actress Hannah Dodd.

Gregory and Hyacinth Bridgerton

Will Tilston and Florence Hunt

Gregory and Hyacinth are the two youngest Bridgertons and can often be seen playing together in the background. Hyacinth seems desperate to be part of the exciting world of debutantes and marriage proposals, often asking her older siblings questions about love and dating.

Violet Bridgerton

Ruth Gemmell

The mother of eight has been running the family solo since the love of her life Edmund died whilst she was pregnant with Hyacinth. Violet desires nothing more than a love match, wanting her kids to experience what she had. In Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, she admitted to Lady Danbury that her ‘garden’ was back in bloom for the first time since her husband’s death.

Queen Charlotte

Golda Rosheuvel

Queen Charlotte is the straight-talking queen that rules the Bridgerton universe. Based on the real-life wife of King George III, there is some speculation among historians that Queen Charlotte may have actually been the first (and only) black Queen of England, which forms the basis for the world that Bridgerton presents.

Queen Charlotte is the matchmaker of the ton, naming the most desirable girls each season, and engineering matches in status. The prequel series focusing on her rise to ruling reveals there’s more to this steadfast figure than first appears – she is a carer for George, who was deemed mentally unfit to rule after bouts of hallucinations.

Lady Danbury

Adjoa Andoh

Lady Danbury is the Queen’s confidant and best friend. From the age of three, her parents committed her to a considerably older man (Cylril Nri) who she had a loveless marriage with up until his death. The widower hasn’t gone loveless all her life though, Queen Charlotte revealed a shocking affair with the father of a prominent member of the ton.

Will and Alice Mondrich

Martins Imhangbe and Emma Naomi

This couple holds the crown for the least dramatic and problematic, and that might mean they sometimes fly under the radar. Will was first seen as Simon Basset’s boxing companion, offering the Duke advice on the his relationship with Daphne in series one. Will Mondrich’s character is loosely based on the life of black British boxer and 1800s celebrity Bill Richmond.

Since Regé-Jean Page departed Bridgerton and took Simon Basset with him, the Mondrichs have formed bonds with the Bridgerton family, with the brothers being regulars at the gentleman’s club Will opened in series two.

Brimsley

Hugh Sachs

Whilst Brimsley forms a comic double act with the Queen as her right-hand man, it transpired in prequel series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story that Brimsley had a romantic match of his own – the forbidden love of the King’s valet, Reynolds (Freddie Dennis).

Tilly Arnold 

Hannah New

Tilly Arnold is a new character for series three, and one in a long line of women the Bridgerton men casually see. Where Benedict hasn't been the least sexually explorative in the early series, Tilly encourages him to step outside of his already spacious comfort zone to a new world of possibilities.

Cressida Cowper

Jessica Madsen

The Regina George of Bridgerton operates without a gang of plastics or girl group to back her up. In series one, she spills a drink on Penelope to get a dance with Colin (unsuccessfully), fake faints to get the attention of the Prince of Prussia (half-successfully) and spreads many viscous rumours across all series. By series three, Cressida’s prospects aren’t looking up, which explains her bitterness and willingness to tread on toes for a husband.

Lady Cowper

Joanna Bobin

Her mother appears to be Cressida’s puppeteer – the mastermind behind Cressida’s quite terrible actions. Although often not at the centre of the drama, Lady Cowper lurks in the shadows like a bad smell, only emerging to berate her daughter or spread gossip.

The Featherington Family

Polly Walker, Bessie Carter, Harriet Cains

The Kardashians of the Bridgerton world, the Featheringtons even have their own momager, Portia (Walker). The family, who are often clinging on to their high society status by a thread, is made up by Prudence (Carter) is the oldest of the siblings, followed by Phillipa (Cains) and then Penelope.

Portia was desperate to get her offspring husbands in the early series, since the two of them were entering their second season (gasp, spinsters!), and they were experiencing a fair amount of money troubles. When their cousin Marina’s pregnancy was discovered, the Featheringtons became even more undesirable. It took them another series to claw their way back up into the marriage mart, through a forced proposal and some very tactical lowering of the necklines.

Featherington husbands

James Phoon, Lorn Macdonald

Prudence got married to Harry Dankworth between series two and three. Albion Finch and Philippa Featherington began courting at the middle of series one, and, with a few bumps in the road, got married in series two in front of close family and friends.

Why then, haven’t they consummated the marriage yet? Portia Featherington was seen early on telling her children pregnancy is catching, so maybe she is to blame…

Genevieve Delacroix

Kathryn Drysdale

A modiste so mysterious that Eloise assumed her to be Lady Whistledown for quite some time. She dresses every desirable family in the ton, fakes a French accent, and had a secret affair with Benedict Bridgerton for the entirety of series one. She helps Penelope sneak her columns to the printers in series two, by sewing the papers into her dresses.

Bridgerton series three's final batch of episodes released onto Netlfix on 13 June 2024, with all series of Bridgerton now available to watch.